By Ralph

After spending 20 years teaching in public schools, Kenyetta Russell could see something that many longtime educators eventually encounter.

Not every child learns the same way.

Some students thrive in a traditional classroom.

Others may need smaller groups, more individual attention, more movement or simply another way of approaching the lesson.

Russell decided to do something about it.

She founded Learn to Thrive Academy, a Brandon micro-school serving students from kindergarten through high school and built around the idea that education can be adapted to the student rather than expecting every student to adapt to exactly the same classroom.

Her work recently earned Russell recognition as a Spectrum News A+ Teacher, bringing attention to a small Brandon school with a distinctly personal approach to education.

Twenty Years Led to One Decision

Russell's decision didn't come from a theory about what education ought to look like.

It came from two decades inside classrooms.

She told Spectrum News that during her teaching career she saw students who learned differently and needed additional support. She wanted to create something that could have an impact on children who needed an alternative approach.

That became Learn to Thrive Academy.

Today the school describes itself as a nontraditional private micro-school supporting students with diverse academic and social-emotional needs, including children with ADHD, dyslexia, autism and other learning differences.

But the school's philosophy isn't simply about assigning a label to a student.

It's about figuring out how that particular child learns.

A Different Kind of Classroom

Walk into a traditional classroom and you're likely to see a teacher delivering a lesson to a relatively large group of students moving through the same curriculum.

Russell's model is deliberately smaller and more personalized.

Learn to Thrive says it uses hands-on, multisensory and individualized learning, with small-group classes and personalized learning plans. Its programs include the full-time K–12 microschool, one-on-one and small-group tutoring, and a hybrid program for homeschooling families.

Russell told Spectrum News that keeping students actively involved is important because engagement can help them retain what they're learning.

But academics are only part of what she's trying to accomplish.

Teaching the Whole Child

Perhaps the most interesting part of Russell's approach is what happens beyond reading, math, science and the other traditional subjects.

Learn to Thrive emphasizes confidence, independence and social-emotional development alongside academic progress. Russell says students are also taught social, emotional and practical life skills intended to help them work through challenges outside the classroom.

It's an educational philosophy built around a simple idea:

A child's success shouldn't be measured only by what appears on a report card.

For a student who has struggled in a conventional classroom, learning to advocate for themselves, solve problems, build confidence or discover that they actually can master something difficult can be an accomplishment in its own right.

Russell wants students leaving her program feeling prepared for whatever comes next.

Small School, Big Idea

Micro-schools occupy an interesting place in today's education landscape. They're intentionally smaller than conventional schools and often use that size to provide more individualized instruction.

Learn to Thrive takes that concept and applies it across kindergarten through high school, while also providing tutoring and a part-time option for homeschooling families.

And the school appears to be growing. Current employment listings for the 2026–27 school year say enrollment is increasing and the academy is adding classroom support staff.

For Russell, however, the mission still comes back to the individual student.

Her goal, she told Spectrum News, is for children who pass through Learn to Thrive to leave inspired, empowered and ready for their futures.

A Brandon Teacher's Second Classroom

There's something fitting about Russell's story.

After 20 years of teaching children inside an established school system, she didn't walk away from education.

She took what those years had taught her and built another kind of classroom.

One designed for the student who might need a little more time.

The student who learns better by doing.

The student who needs a smaller environment.

Or simply the student who hasn't yet discovered the way he or she learns best.

Learn to Thrive Academy is located at 3315 S. Bryan Road in Brandon. The school's current information lists its K–12 micro-school, tutoring and hybrid programs at that location.

And somewhere inside those classrooms is the idea that started the whole thing:

Different doesn't have to mean unable.

Sometimes it simply means learning differently.